Page 351 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

the Chinese deployed their troops to the Sumdorong Chu before the Indian
team could arrive in the summer and built a helipad at Wandung. Surprised
by the Chinese occupation, India’s then Chief of Army Staff, General K
Sundarji, airlifted a brigade to the region.

Chinese troops could not move any further into the valley and were forced
to move sideways along the Thag La Ridge, away from the valley. By 1987,
Beijing’s reaction was similar to that in 1962 and this prompted many

Western diplomats to predict war. However, Indian Foreign Minister ND
Tiwari and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi travelled to Beijing over the

following months to negotiate a mutual de-escalation.

After the Huang visit, India and the PRC held eight rounds of border
negotiations between December 1981 and November 1987. These talks

initially raised hopes that progress could be made on the border issue.
However, in 1985, the PRC stiffened its position on the border and insisted
on mutual concessions without defining the exact terms of its “package
proposal” or where the actual line of control lay. In 1986 and 1987, the

negotiations achieved nothing, given the charges exchanged between the two
countries of military encroachment in the Sumdorung Chu Valley of the

Tawang tract on the eastern sector of the border. China’s construction of a
military post and helipad in the area in 1986 and India’s grant of statehood to
Arunachal Pradesh (formerly the NEFA) in February 1987 caused both sides

to deploy new troops to the area, raising tensions and fears of a new border
war. The PRC relayed warnings that it would “teach India a lesson” if it did
not cease “nibbling” at Chinese territory. By the summer of 1987, however,

both sides had backed away from conflict and denied that military clashes
had taken place.

A warming trend in relations was facilitated by Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to

China in December 1988. The two sides issued a joint communiqué that
stressed the need to restore friendly relations on the basis of the Panchsheel
and noted the importance of the first visit by an Indian prime minister to

China since Nehru’s 1954 visit. India and the PRC agreed to broaden bilateral
ties in various areas, working to achieve a “fair and reasonable settlement
while seeking a mutually acceptable solution” to the border dispute. The